In case you can read German, I recommend the Malleus Monstrorum 2nd Edition:

It's a 500 page hardcover full of Mythos entities. What's more, none of the creatures have "standard" monster illustrations like you see them in D&D Monster Manuals. Instead, they have essentially "handouts" - images which seem to be some sort of period illustrations by artists who struggled to make sense of what they saw or heard.

And each creature entry has an "Intro" and an "Extro" - a short vignette which tells of how some unfortunate person encountered the entry, and another vignette which detailed how other people stumbled upon the fate of the first victim.

In case you can read German, I recommend the Malleus Monstrorum 2nd Edition:

[snipped]

It's a 500 page hardcover full of Mythos entities. What's more, none of the creatures have "standard" monster illustrations like you see them in D&D Monster Manuals. Instead, they have essentially "handouts" - images which seem to be some sort of period illustrations by artists who struggled to make sense of what they saw or heard.

And each creature entry has an "Intro" and an "Extro" - a short vignette which tells of how some unfortunate person encountered the entry, and another vignette which detailed how other people stumbled upon the fate of the first victim.

Jürgen, what's the difference between the 2nd and the 1st Edition of this book?

"The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization." Sigmund Freud

"Meekness: Uncommon patience in planning a revenge that is worth while." Ambrose Bierce

"In heaven all the interesting people are missing." Friedrich Nietzsche

"Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen." John le Carre